Agreement reached for W-B Twp. police work schedules

The year-long work schedule dispute between the union that represents Wilkes-Barre Township police and the township's mayor has finally come to an end.

The Wilkes-Barre Township Mayor's Office and the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Benevolent Association have reached a settlement agreement in the recent grievance arbitration filed by the association regarding the scheduling practices for full-time members of the police department.

Under the new agreement, full-time officers assigned to patrol will work a consistent three week rotation on first and second shift platoons and will maintain a steady third shift and mid-shift platoon, according to the press release from the mayor's office. All patrol division personnel will be able to bid for their platoon of choice based upon seniority, the release says.

The township will also allow officers to switch scheduled shifts in an effort to cut down on the use of sick and personal time and save funds that would have been needed to replace the officers when they call off sick or request a personal day, the release says.

In a letter forwarded to the police union, Mayor Carl Kuren said, "We can now, as joint representatives of the Township of Wilkes-Barre, move forward positively and focus on the police department providing the highest level of professional law enforcement services that our community has come to expect."

Earlier this month, the township appealed an arbitrator's decision that Kuren overstepped his bounds by changing the work schedule for the township's full-time police officers.

An arbitrator sustained a grievance filed by the association regarding schedule changes imposed by Kuren more than a year ago.

Walter De Treux, of the American Arbitration Association, found the schedule changes violated the union's collective bargaining agreement and directed the township to return to the scheduling process stated in the contract.

With the schedule changes, most cops, union officials said, were forced into three round-the-clock shifts each week - 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. one week, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next week, and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. the following week, before starting the rotation over again. Officers could bid only on platoons, not on shifts.

Through the mayor's Feb. 20, 2013 memo changing the schedules, he was "extending well beyond his authority to 'assign personnel to work particular shifts,'" the arbitration reads.

Jack Dean, the attorney for the township, claimed the issue is superseded by a clause that gives management - the mayor and police chief - the sole right to determine scheduling.

The arbitrator, however, ruled that Kuren cannot exercise his authority in that instance without adhering to the bidding system written in the union contract that has been followed since 1998.

jseibel@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2110, @cvseibel

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